Unpacking
by Celeste6
Summary: Hawaii wasn't home to Detective Danny Williams, not yet, but it was family. And ohana was everything.
1. One Day Before McGarrett's Arrest

_Authors Note: Rewatching the end of season one and the beginning of season two, a few things struck me. The first was that Danny gets to drive his car with Steve in it in a couple of the early season two episodes. The close second was that Danny stops wearing a tie. There had to a good story behind both those things. And then I started filling in some of the missing scenes, including one with Rachel that surprised me when I wrote it. Rachel had far more to say than I thought she would. _

_Our story picks up in the middle of the season 1 finale after Danny learns Steve has broken into the Governor's residence._

_This is my first foray into writing Hawaii Five-0 fanfic - and my first story in some time. It's good to be back writing, so thanks for reading. _

_Spoilers for end of season 1 and beginning of season 2. Usual disclaimers apply - characters etc are not mine; I'm just taking them out to play for a little while. _

**Unpacking**

Steve closed Laura Hills' date book. He dropped his head and said again, "It's my fault."

"You didn't steal your father's toolbox, you didn't ask Laura to work for the governor, and you didn't plant that bomb. None of this is your fault." Danny caught Steve's arm, giving it a gentle shake.

Steve looked up and at his partner. "Maybe not directly, but whatever this is, I got too close and she paid the price."

"And we will get her justice, but breaking into the governor's house might not have been the best way to do that, babe." Danny stepped back and crossed his arms.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "You think full immunity and means won't get me out of this one?" he asked dryly.

Danny barked in laughter. "I think I'm staying here tonight to keep you out of trouble. And just in case she comes looking for you. You gotta take a breath here, Steven. We will figure this out, but you can't go off on your own like that." He held his hand out. "Let me take a look at the pictures again."

Steve handed him the phone and watched Danny swipe through them, then realized he didn't know why Danny was there. "What'd you come over for any way?" Steve asked.

Danny hmmed an answer, still thinking on the bombshell of the governor ordering a hit on one of her own. He finally realized Steve was staring at him. "What?" Steve waved a hand in the direction of the two six-packs on the coffee table. "Oh." Danny handed him back the phone and grinned. "I have news that, in what I'm sure will come as a great shock, is actually good." He stuck his hands in his pockets and waited.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "You gonna keep me in suspense?"

Danny's grin got bigger. "I'm going to be a father."

Steve started to say, you already are, and then he got it. He knew Danny had been in a better mood over the past few weeks, but Steve hadn't seen him this outwardly happy since the hospital room with Rachel after the sarin exposure. In spite of everything that was going wrong at the moment, Steve couldn't help but grin back at his best friend. "Gracie's getting a younger sibling?"

"She is indeed."

"She's going to be a great big sister."

"The best big sister." One hand slipped out of his pocket to punctuate the words as he almost bounced on his feet.

"And you and Rachel…"

"Rachel is telling Stan tomorrow that it's over." Danny held one hand up. "Which on one hand, I uniquely feel for the guy, but on the other, well…" He dropped his hand. "I don't intend to waste the second chance."

Steve nodded sagely. "Tropical paradises are good at inspiring romance. You just needed a little Hawaiian magic to bring the two of you back together."

Danny held up a hand, palm out, as if to protest, then turned into an open-handed shrug. "Okay. I'll give you that. Hawaii actually did us good."

Steve stared, stunned. Had Danny actually said something nice about Hawaii? Danny grinned and bounced on his feet again, saying, "Close your mouth, Steven. You'll catch flies that way."

Steve shook his head and snapped his jaw shut. He reached out. "Come here, you giddy goof." The two men embraced with plenty of back slapping. Danny laughed, free and happy. "Hey, that's my name for you."

"No, I'm the big goof." Steve pointed a finger at his friend. "You're the giddy one."

"Giddy, huh." He laughed again. "Okay, yeah. Giddy works."

"So that's what the beer is for."

"That's what half the beer is for." Danny walked over to the table and grabbed two of the bottles. "Come on, let's open these so you can toast my impending fatherhood and relationship status."

Steve grabbed the rest of the beer and followed him into the kitchen, putting one of the packs in the refrigerator. Danny opened the bottles and handed Steve one. Steve held his up. "To second chances and second children." Danny clinked his bottle against Steve's and then took a long drink. The two stood there in companionable silence, side by side leaning against the kitchen counter, until Danny threw his head back and laughed again for sheer joy.

"It's going to take a few of these to calm you down, isn't it?" Steve bumped his shoulder.

"Probably. But I figured we'd drink our way through the other part of the news, too." He looked at Steve, blue eyes happy but serious, and Steve suddenly knew what was coming. But he'd let Danny get to it in his own time. Things were unraveling and twisting and changing, but for the next little bit he could pretend that everything was good and right with the world. He bumped Danny's shoulder again. "Beach or lanai?"


	2. Two Days After McGarrett's Arrest

Steve sat down in the hard chair and stared at the blond man sitting on the other side of the glass. He looked exhausted and stressed, and the fact that he didn't start in on a rant before Steve could sit down was worrying. So Steve did what he did best when it came to his partner - he baited him. "I don't want visitors, Danny," he said in his coldest Navy SEAL voice.

"Yeah? Well, how else am I going to give you information?"

"I don't need information; I need out."

"Fine, then we can have a nice, normal conversation."

"Normal?"

"I ask how you're doing, you say great. You ask how the family is, I say they're great. We talk about the weather, maybe a little politics in the form of our soon-to-be new governor. You know, a normal conversation."

"How is the family, Danny?" He paused for a second. "Does Gracie know what happened?"

Danny huffed a small laugh. "Rachel and Grace are in Jersey. My daughter got on the phone and told me that she knew exactly what you were doing. Uncle Steve, she said, must be undercover, because he's not a bad guy." He looked at Steve more seriously. "It's national news. Grace caught the story before Rachel could turn off the TV." He shifted in his chair, as if not sure he should say the next thing. "I called Mary. She wanted to fly out, but I told her now was definitely not the time. She could be in just as much danger."

Steve started to say something, then changed his mind and just said, "Thanks, Danno." The two men just looked at each other for a long moment, before Danny sighed dramatically and waved a hand in Steve's direction.

"You, my friend, are in trouble with my not-so-ex wife. I told her you'd SuperSEAL your way out of here in no time and in doing so would provide me with the crucial information I need to work my expert detective skills and prove you didn't do it. What's with the wait?"

Steve shrugged. "Needed a vacation. Listening to you bitch about island life for a year was bad enough; you being happy here was more than I could handle." As per their usual deep discussion mode, a gentle question was couched in the jab.

"Lucky for you, you'll have to listen to me be happy over the phone in the future."

Steve nodded. "I'm sorry, Danny. You should be with Rachel and Grace."

Danny huffed. "I'm right where I need to be, babe. You're not getting rid of me that easy."

"But you are moving back to the mainland?"

"Let's focus on getting you out of here, and we'll talk about the other thing then."

Steve studied his partner. Danny evaded certain subjects all the time, usually via rant misdirection. He knew the man staring quietly back at him through the glass was thrilled to be back with the woman he had never stopped loving, and just as excited about her pregnancy. But if Steve didn't know better, he would think his best friend wasn't exactly excited about moving back to the place Danny still considered home. Danny shook his head and smiled the tiniest of smiles, but Steve saw it was genuine.

"Don't worry about it, Steven. We'll argue it out later." And Steve nodded, and let Danny tell him what was happening with Kono and what was not happening with Chin and how Jenna was working on leads for Wo Fat. And he filed the important words away to go over again later in his cell, content for now to let Danny's voice wash over him, a little piece of home.


	3. Four Days After McGarrett's Arrest

Rachel drove aimlessly. She'd really thought - she'd believed - that Danny was the father of the child she carried. She was so sure. She'd waited until she was back in New Jersey and could see the same doctor she'd seen with Grace, but she had known. Until the doctor had told her how far along she was, and Rachel had realized she was wrong.

Rachel was almost glad Danny wasn't there with her. She knew without a doubt he would be supportive and kind, even through the bitter disappointment he would feel. But she didn't know what the doctor's news meant just yet, and Danny would want to know what she was going to do.

And the truth was she was having second thoughts. Yes, she loved him. But nothing about his job had changed. She still didn't know if he would come home at night. That she had watched him work, and seen him after he'd almost died, had for a short time made her think that maybe it would be different. That she knew more now and could handle it. Their somewhat whirlwind, secret affair, added to her marriage with Stan falling apart, had made her temporarily forget the reasons she had left Danny the first time.

He would never give up the job. He did love her; she knew that without a shadow of a doubt. But he was a cop, and he loved being a cop. Take that away from him, and he wouldn't be the same man. The fact that he wasn't there in New Jersey with her and Grace proved that.

She'd listened over and over to the voice mail he'd left while she and Grace were in the air somewhere between Honolulu and Newark. "_Rachel, I'm sorry. I had every intention of being on that plane, but things… things have gone to hell here. I don't want to say too much on the phone; I'm sure you'll see some of it on the news. I'm sorry, babe. I love you and I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell Grace Danno loves her." _

Between now and then, every time they'd talked on the phone, he'd been distracted and worried. He called, yes, and he asked about her and the baby, and he spent time on the phone with Grace, and he promised he would be there - as soon as things in Hawaii were straightened out. She knew he meant every word he said. And she knew it would never be just the four of them.

She realized that she had been selfish asking him to just abruptly pick and leave Hawaii with her. He may not have wanted to move there, but she'd seen enough of Steve McGarrett to understand that Danny had found truly fulfilling work and good friends. He would always be a cop, and would find work back in New Jersey, but it wouldn't be the same without the people he considered both team and family.

If she was brutally honest with herself, she wanted him to make that sacrifice for her, to prove that he did indeed love her more than anything. She knew he thought he was willing to give those things up, but she wondered if it would come between them later. And if she were really being honest, she knew it would. Because she was running from Stan more than she was running to Danny.

She drove down to the waterfront park near Port Imperial where she could look out over the Manhattan skyline. It surprised her that she felt penned in by the skyscrapers and too many people. And then she realized she planned to give Danny big news from another park by the water - this one half a world and what felt like a lifetime away.

She sat on a bench there while the sun set behind her. Finally, she came to a decision and dialed the phone. It would be early afternoon in Hawaii, and it was time to face the music.

"Rachel? Is everything okay?" Stan - her husband, still - sounded worried. She hesitated, and Stan said, "Rachel? Are you there?"

"I'm here," she sighed. "We need to talk."

A pause. "I thought you'd said everything you had to say before you left."

"Yes, well. Things have… things have changed."

"Williams decided not to follow you this time?" Stan said bitterly. "I've been watching the news here, you know. They've disbanded his task force. I'm surprised he can still show his face anywhere on the island."

Rachel squeezed her eyes shut. If she thought about Danny, she'd never get through this call. "I'm sure he's fine. I didn't call to talk about Daniel. I called to talk about the baby."

"Why on earth would I want to talk about your baby?"

"Our baby." She hadn't meant to blurt it out like that, but it wasn't something that could be said gently. "It's… the baby is yours and mine." There was silence on the phone, so she continued. "I went to the doctor today. I'm farther along than I thought, and there's no way… I wasn't… he wasn't…"

"You weren't sleeping with him then. Really?"

"Not… no. Right before we went to Maui, and you and I… Things weren't good, but there was one night…

More silence. "You're sure."

"As I can be. The dates match up, but if you want to take a paternity test…"

"Yes. I do." She supposed she deserved that. Stan sighed. "Rachel, what does this mean?"

"I don't know, Stan. I really don't." She hesitated again, then said what she'd been thinking all afternoon. "Maybe I gave up on us too soon."

They talked for another 45 minutes, sometimes crying, sometimes arguing. But once she had said the words, Rachel knew what she planned to do. Stan deserved a chance to know his child, and that child and Grace deserved a stable home. And if Rachel was being honest with herself, she didn't want to play second place to a job or to Danny's chosen family. And he deserved more than her resentment and divided feelings.

She took a deep breath and dialed Danny's number. She wasn't sure where he would be, but knew he would answer whatever he was doing.

"Hey, Rachel." Danny sounded tired.

"Danny. Do you have time to talk?"

"Yeah, babe. Everything okay?"

There was no point in delaying. "Grace is fine. She misses you." She took another deep breath. "Danny, I went for my first doctor's appointment today."

"Rachel, are you and the baby okay? You're scaring me here, sweetheart."

"We're both fine, but… The doctor said I'm two and a half weeks further along than I thought."

"Ah." There was silence for a moment. "That means… I thought you were sure."

"I was." Rachel sighed. "I was wrong."

"Okay. Okay. We'll work through this, Rach. It's okay."

"No, Danny. It's not."

"What do you want to do? I love you, and I know we can make this work."

She hesitated. She was sure, but that didn't make it any easier to say it out loud. "Stan deserves a chance to know his child."

"I don't disagree. Maybe he can move to New Jersey to be near his kid."

Rachel closed her eyes. He had every right to be bitter. It wasn't fair to expect him to make this easy on her. "Danny…"

"Okay." He sighed. "Do you want to stay in Hawaii? That way, Stan can be as involved as you and he agree. It's not my first choice, but where you and Grace are is home, so if that's what we need to do, that's what we'll do."

"We're coming back to Hawaii." Another deep breath. "Stan and I are going to try again."

"Rachel, you and I… you said it was over."

"I thought it was. But the baby changes everything. Stan and I decided the right thing to do was give us a chance so that he can be an active part of our child's life."

"So, you'll let another man raise my daughter, but you won't let me raise his kid."

"Danny, would things really have been any different this time?"

"Yeah, they would have."

"Really? If things were going to be different, wouldn't you be here? The job is always going to come first with you, and I can't compete with that."

"It's not the job! The job literally doesn't exist right now! My friend - my family - is in trouble. I lost one brother this year; I'm not about to lose Steve, too. You of all people should know what that means to me."

"Your family is here, Danny. In New Jersey. You told me that you only wanted to be wherever Grace and I were, and we're here but you're not."

"No. You don't get to decide who my family is! I would do anything for you and Grace, you know that, but that doesn't mean I do it at the expense of the rest of the people I care about. I will be there, with you, back home or here, but right now they need me more than you do." She heard a frustrated huff. "Or maybe it's that they still need me, even if you've decided you don't."

"I wanted it to be you!" Rachel finally broke. Frustration and pain filled her voice as she yelled back at him. "I wanted to be with you! I wanted our family back and I wanted you back and I thought I could do it all differently. But you haven't changed and I haven't changed, and we're right back where we started."

There was silence on the phone. Then Danny said, "I never stopped loving you. I'm not sure I ever will."

Rachel didn't know what else to say, so she said the only thing she could. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I'll let you know when we plan to travel back. You'll call Grace tomorrow?"

"Yeah, of course."

She nodded and not actually wanting to say the words, simply hung up the phone.


	4. After Reinstatement of 5-0

_Author's Note: Thanks so much to everyone who has read and especially everyone who reviewed/followed. I forgot how catnip-y reviews can be and how much fun it is to read through them._ _Final chapter here... for this story, anyway. I really enjoy writing the off screen, in between scenes, so it's safe to say there will be more, but this ties up the arc between season 1 and 2 and thus this particular story. Sometimes it's just a random line in the episode that gels everything in my mind - like the one that ties up this story. I started asking the why questions (the tie and the driving), then in a re-watch of the season 1 finale, heard Danny say that line. And everything just clicked. Thanks again for reading!_

* * *

><p>Danny sat at his desk, quietly relishing the comfort that came with having his world turned right side up again. Yes, there were things that still sucked - the situation with Rachel being Exhibit A - but somehow that seemed normal, too.<p>

He'd never felt so alone as when Rachel had called him from New Jersey to tell him she was going back to Stan. He literally couldn't talk to Steve, Chin was avoiding him, and Kono had her own problems. The life he'd built - almost by accident - for himself in Hawaii was falling apart, and he had wanted nothing more than to get on the first plane he could find and just go home.

He would join his teammates in a few minutes, but he wanted a moment to process everything. He was over the adrenaline crash, but he needed a little more time to just be. Be there in the place that felt like home, knowing that his friends were present and safe, even if not entirely over their troubles.

He half-watched the surveillance footage from the secret camera they'd removed from the governor's residence. He was curious to see what else the camera had caught, but it was more about giving him those few quiet moments.

Not that his team would let him be alone for too long. The door opened and Chin stuck his head in. "Hey, brah, come have a beer. We're celebrating being back in business."

"Yeah," Danny said, catching something potentially interesting on his computer screen, "I'll be in shortly."

Chin hesitated, then stepped fully into the office letting the door shut behind him. Danny looked up. "Everything okay?" he asked.

Chin tilted his head. "That's what I was going to ask you."

Danny studied him. They'd kissed and made up, so to speak, by trading one liners in the office after Joe had left to go see Jenna, but they hadn't talked it out yet. He leaned forward, propped his elbows on the desk, and sighed.

Chin studied him back, crossing his arms. "I did what I had to do. I'm sorry it looked like I was letting the team down."

Danny shook his head and waved one hand in a sideways slash. "No, I'm sorry I gave you a hard time. I know you'd do anything for Steve. And you know I'd do anything for him. Our two anythings just got tangled up with each other." He leaned back in his chair. "You did good, brother."

Chin gave him a small smile. "Back attcha. I know it was only a week, but it was a really sucky week. Can't believe how much I missed you crazy haoles."

"Well, you're stuck with us now. See if you say the same thing in another week."

Chin hesitated. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I thought you'd be headed to Jersey."

"Ah, yeah." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I hadn't had a chance to tell you yet. Rachel is coming back to Hawaii, or more specifically, to Stan. So I will not be leaving."

"That's…" Chin paused, thinking. "The baby is his?"

Danny sighed again. It was impossible to keep secrets when all your best friends were trained investigators. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry, Danny." He waited until the younger man looked up and met his eyes. "But I'm not sorry you're staying. It wouldn't be the same without you."

Danny nodded his thanks, finally smiling just a bit. "You just want me around because I'm a calming influence on McGarrett."

Chin laughed. "You keep telling yourself that, brah."

H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50

Danny stared out the window of the car, blankly watching scenery fly by. He'd finally come out to be with the rest of the team, and had smiled and joked with them. But he'd barely taken a drink from the bottle Steve had given him, and now he was too quiet. Steve hadn't realized how accustomed he was to Danny filling the silence. A year ago, Steve would have sworn that he would welcome a week away from his partner. Now, he might profess to be annoyed with his partner's rants and arguments and general complaining, but he couldn't imagine life without his best friend.

And he was at a complete loss for what to do when Danny was quiet.

He pulled into the parking lot of the Foodland. Danny finally looked around when Steve turned off the car. "What are we doing here?"

Steve shrugged. "I haven't been home for a week. I need groceries."

"And I have to come along?"

"Yeah. You do."

"Great." Danny got out of the car. Steve surreptitiously studied him as they walked into the store. That was it? He'd dragged Danny somewhere without asking him first, told him what he was going to do, and got almost no reaction. Now Steve was worried.

The two men walked in silence through the store. Steve quickly filled a basket with some basic supplies and steered them to the checkout. When they got back to the car, Danny stopped before opening the car door and asked, "Can I go home now?

"If you really want to, but I was thinking we'd grill a couple of these steaks, sit on the beach, and finish off that second six pack you left at my house last week."

Danny thought for a second. "I could do that."

"Yeah?"

Danny leaned his arms against the top of the car and finally, really looked at Steve. "You missed me, didn't you. You know, you could just say that."

Steve shrugged. "I thought it went without saying."

Raised eyebrows and a half nod. "With you, it usually does."

Steve smiled. "Let's go, partner."

An hour later, steaks grilled and eaten, the two men sat in the old wooden chairs on the beach. Danny was still mostly quiet, but the silence was more comfortable.

Steve took a swig of beer and said, "You know it's been almost a year since you sat in that chair and told me that your job was to keep the island safe for Grace?"

"Yeah."

"That's still your job." Danny turned to looked at him, eyebrows raised in question. "Grace is coming back here and you're staying."

"Of course I'm staying." Danny stared at his partner like he'd lost it. "Where else would I be?"

"Exactly. But maybe this time, you can think of it as your choice to be here, not something you were forced into." Steve knew he was poking a sleeping bear, but he didn't want to spend the next year watching Danny simply get through the days.

"So I should think of this as a second chance?"

Steve closed his eyes. It was a simple question, no hostility there, but he couldn't help hearing echoes of their conversation a week ago. It wasn't the second chance Danny had wanted. "Not a second chance," Steve said. "The beginning of the next chapter."

"A new start, huh?" Danny stared off into the distance. "Okay, if we're making a new start, can I drive my car from now on?"

Steve started to answer, then stopped himself. We. Danny was right; it wasn't just a new start for him. They all knew what they had to lose now - team, family, purpose - so it was, in a way, a new start for all of them. "Okay, Danno, you're right. We are making a new start. So I'll make you a deal - you start acting like you really live here, and I'll let you drive."

"What does that mean, act like I really live here? I live here! I couldn't live here more."

"You don't! You've got that crappy little apartment, you dress like you're still on the mainland, and you continually bitch about not being able to find good pizza."

"That's because you think pineapple is an appropriate pizza topping. I'm not changing my opinion on pizza."

Steve looked over at him, cocked his head to one side and half shrugged. "Okay. Stop wearing a tie to work."

"That's it?"

"That's it. You'll still be overdressed, but at least you'll be more comfortable and you won't look out of place."

Danny stared forward for a long moment. Steve barely moved, wondering if he was in for an epic rant or if his partner was actually thinking about it.

"The tie is really that bad?" Danny said in a low voice, barely audible.

"It's not that it's bad," Steve said carefully, "it just makes it very clear that you're not from here. It says you don't want to be from here." He paused. "You worked without it this week and you weren't any less professional."

Danny huffed a laugh. "Well, there was that whole aiding and abetting an escaped prisoner thing."

Steve relaxed a little. His partner's tone was thoughtful, not upset. "Around here, that's all in a day's work."

Another laugh. "True. We are not what you would call conventional." He thought for another moment, then nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?"

Danny sighed. "I'll give up the tie."

Steve looked at the other man sharply. He felt like something big had just happened, and he thought it was good, but with Danny, he didn't always know. Danny stared back, and then smiled just a tiny bit. "I told you we'd argue it out later, Steven. You're right. I've been staying here, but I haven't been living here. All evidence to the contrary aside, I think I didn't really believe I was here permanently. I can't promise I'm going to grow to love this place, but I promise to try and think of it as home." The smile grew just a little. "I promise to act like I live here. So. I'll give up the tie."

Steve nodded once. "You've been thinking about this."

Danny tilted his head. "Little bit, yeah."

Steve pursed his lips. "Okay."

"Okay, I get to drive my car, right?"

"A deal's a deal, brother." Steve smiled. Two weeks, tops.

Danny knew it, and rolled his eyes, but let it go. All was right with the world again, and he was content to be there in that moment. This was home. By choice, by accident - it didn't matter.

He'd never unpacked, but he wanted to now.


End file.
